
Class. 



L_73 

Book -.(a 7 137 — 



oi'Ti'ieiAr. ^>oNAxro^f. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



AND 



MATTERS APPERTAINING 



TO THE 



Granary Burial-G round 




Published by the Cemetery Department of the City of Boston 



TRUSTEES 



J. Albert Brackett, Chairman 



Jacob Morse 
William J. Fallon 



Albert W. Hersey 
Frederick E. Atteaux 



Albert E. Smith, Sea-dary 



Note. — The department acknowledges with gratitude the assistance received in the prep- 
aration of the histories of Copp's Hill and the Granary EurialGrounds from C. W. Ernst, Esq., 
who has given freely of his time, contributed much valuable historical matter, and pointed out 
many important details which, from a careful and analytical study of the records of our city, 
have come to his knowledge. 



BOSTON 

MUNICIPAL PRINTING OFFICE 
1902 



)- I'd 



NOV 4 1S02 
D.ofD. 




ENTRANCE TO GRANARY BURIAL-GROUND. 



THE GRANARY BURIAL GROUND. 



An epitome of the history of the Granary Burial Ground and of 
its roll of famous tenants is wrought in the inscription on its 
gates. 

On the left hand gate we read : 

GRANARY BURIAL GROUND 
1660. 



WITHIN THIS GROUND ARE BURIED 

THE VICTIMS OF THE BOSTON MASSACRE, 

MARCH 5, 1770. 



JOSIAH FRANKLIN AND WIFE 

( Parents of Benjamin Franklin) ; 

PETER FANEUIL; PAUL REVERE 

AND 

JOHN PHILLIPS, 

FIRST MAYOR of BOSTON. 

On the right hand gate is this inscription : 

GRANARY BURIAL GROUND 

1660. 



WITHIN THIS GROUND ARE BURIED 
JOHN HANCOCK. SAMUEL ADAMS, 

and ROBERT TREAT PAINE, 
Signers of the Declaration of Independence; 

GOVERNORS 
RICHARD BELLINGHAM, WILLIAM DUMMER, 

JAMES BOWDOIN, INCREASE SUMNER, 

JAMES SULLIVAN and CHRISTOPHER GORE; 

LIEUT. GOVERNOR THOMAS GUSHING; 
CHIEF JUSTICE SAMUEL SEW^ALL; 
MINISTERS JOHN BAILY, SA^HUEL WILLARD; 
JEREMY BELKNAP AND JOHN LATHROP. 

This burial ground situated on Tremont street, between Park 
Street Church and the Tremont Building, at the corner of Tre- 
mont and Beacon streets, is the third oldest cemetery in Boston. 
It is of almost the same date as Copp's Hill, being estabUshed 
about 1660. The ordinance of 1833, to discontinue burials in 



the old groimd for a time, refers to the Granary as well as to 
Copp's Hill. In common with Copp's Hill, the Granary owes 
its establishment to the incapacity of King's Chapel to contain 
all the (lead of the growing town. 

It was generally called the .South Burying Ground or place 
until about 1737, when the town granary was moved from the 
head of what is now Park street and set up on the site of 
the present Park Street Church. The granary when built in 
1729 stood in the Common, where the City has built sani- 
taries (13 Boston Kec. 189; Price map of 1743; 12 Boston 
Rec. 159). May 3, 1737, it was voted in meeting of Select- 
men that the "Granary be tixed and set at a distance of 
twelve feet from the wall of the Burying place." Later it 
was occasionally referred to as the Central or Middle aground, 
being situated midway between the King's Chapel ground 
on the north and the Boylstou Street ground on the south. In 
May 1830, it was proposed to call it "Franklin Cemetery" but 
the name never acquired currency. The term South Burial 
Ground as apphed to the Granary Burial Ground lasted from 
about 1660 to about 1756, when the new burial ground corner of 
Tremout and Boylston Streets began to receive the appellation. 
In 1759 the Town Records (vol. 16, p. 27) call it "the South 
Burial place on the back of the Workhouse." The term Granary 
Burial Ground is modern. We have no exact quotation before 
1795 (27 Boston Rec. 274). The granary served as such from 
1728 to 1784, and after it was given to other uses, the term 
" Granary Burial Ground " came up, and still lasts, illustrating 
the tenacity or conservatism of our folk speech. 

At present, it is bounded about 327 feet southeast on Tremont 
street; 297 feet southwest on the Park street side; 210 feet 
northwest ; and 262 feet northeast. It was at iirst a part of the 
Common, which once took in all the area bounded by Tremont, 
Beacon and Park streets. Its northerly l)oundary toward Bea- 
con is the same as originally made in the latter part of the sev- 
enteenth century. 

Originally part of the Common, the territory between Tre- 
mont, Beacon and Park streets, was soon devoted to special uses 
when the first pound in Boston was established in the present 
burial ground, near the present Tremont building, not far from 
Tremont street (2 Bost. Rec. 17, 18, 40; 3 Suff. Deeds 45), 
and when about an acre to the north of the pound was granted 
to John AVilson, the pastor, who sold it in IGGl to James Oliver. 
The original Wilson lot, mentioned in the Book of Possessions, is 
now covered l)y the Tremont building. 

Beacon street, from Tremont to Somerset, was established on 
March 30, 1640 (2 Bost. Rec. 52) ; from Somerset to Park under 
the Town order of 20 : 6 : 1660, fully carried out 25 : 6 : 1662. 

Tremont street, from School to Park, is mentioned in the Book 
of Possessions, about 1645, as "the streete on the west" of 
Zaccheus Bosworth's property, now occupied by the Parker 
House. 



Park street was established under the order of the Town Meet- 
ing adopted on INIarch 14, 1737/8 (12 Bost. Rec. 191). 

The irregular square bounded by these streets was originally a 
part of the Common. At an early day the pound was established 
there, "the fould keeper" and "ye f ould " being mentioned in 
the Town Records of INIay 13, 1637. 

This pound was near the northeast corner of the burial ground, 
just back of the southern projection from the Tremont building 
on Tremont street. The northern and eastern lines of the pound 
still exist. 

The land from the pound to Beacon street, and up to the pres- 
ent Athenoeum lot, about an acre, was the garden of John Wil- 
son, the first pastor of the First Church, who sold it in 1661 
(Book of Poss., 3 vSuff. Deeds 489). It was soon cut into house 
lots. 

The original almshouse lot included the Athenneum lot, and the 
gore or triangle, numbered 8 and 10 Beacon street, was given to 
Mary AVillis on March 11, 1660/61. It was reduced" by the 
change in the line of Beacon street, and a description of the re- 
duced lot appears in the Town Records of 22 : 12 : 1668/69. 

The irregular little lot between the pound and Tremont street, 
still .to be seen, and originally covering 745 square feet, was 
given on November 28, 1664, to Stephen Barrett (7 Bost. Rec. 
23; 7 Suff. Deeds 44). 

The House of Correction, or bridewell, could have been 
established on Park street, below the almshouse, by the County 
of Suffolk, under the consent given in the town meeting of De- 
cember 27, 1720 (8 Bost. Rec. 148). 

In 1662, the almshouse, corner of Park and Beacon streets, 
was built; in 1721, the House of Correction, or Bridewell, lower 
down on Park street; the Granary in 1728; to the noith 
and northwest, private lots were granted and dwellings erected 
after 1660. There is some doubt as to the establishment of the 
bridewell or house of correction. An outbuilding of the alms- 
house may have been so used. By 1722, as shown in Bonner's 
map of that date, the land fronting Beacon street had been set 
off in house lots on nearly the present lines. 

Tremont street, however, was scarcely more than an open lane 
up to the eightheenth century, with but few houses on the eastern 
side facing the great common field and the cemetery. Originally 
it was called all sorts of names, until in 1708 the town adopted 
the official title of Common street. Until after the revolution. 
Park street was still but a roadway. It first appears laid out on 
Norman's map, publislied in 1789 ; and was then known as Cen- 
try or Sentry street, and sometimes Century street. Beacon 
street was ordered laid out March 30th, 1640 (o.s.) which is 
also, in a measure, the birthday of Boston Common, but did not 
take its present form until 1662. 

The records as to the Granary are incomplete and fragmentary, 
though it is referred to in many ways at a very early period of 
the town's history. 



On May 15, 1717, the selectmeu were voted authorit}', at their 
discretion, "to Enlarge the SoutI) burying place by takeing in 
part of the High way on the P^asterly yide thereof, J'o as that 
thereby ye said Highway be not thereby too muchytraightened." 

On April 29, 1719, nothing apparently having been done, this 
time it was ordered, that the South Burying Place should be 
enlarged next the Common or Training Field. The precise ex- 
tent of the addition is doubtful, the probability being that some 
of the graves extended into the present area of the Common, as 
was evidenced by the fact that several gravestones were dis- 
interred by the workmen digging the foundations of the Brewer 
Fountain in 1868. In 1720, the historic pound was removed 
from the burial ground, near Tremont street, to what is now Park 
street. 

During the year 1720-21 fifteen tombs were built and licensed. 
Vide 13, Rec. Comm. R., p. 18. They ran in a line parallel to 
Park street, on the southwest side, beginning at the upper cor- 
ner. Six were added in 1722, extending east, the first being 
that of the Hancocks, and by 1725 the line was complete. 

In 1727, a new range was begun from the corner, following 
Tremont street on the east side to No. 30 and 13 northerly. 
This row was finished, and the line carried irregularly around 
what was then the corner of the Tremont House garden, as far 
as number 80. In 1739 five more tombs were added. No 
records are extant of any grants until ISIO, and few or no tombs 
were probably built meanwhile. In that and the following three 
or four years, twenty-six tombs were built on the northerly side, 
and the same number on the westerly. 

Beside these tombs, bordering on the sides, there are sixty 
others within the yard, of which the city owns one, set apart for 
the interment of children. Many tombs are not under regular 
grant and these usually contain the remains of ministers and 
prominent men of the town. 

In 1807 permission was granted William Payne and his sisters 
to erect tombs in the yards of their Beacon street estates, west 
of the Athenanim, and bordering on the burial ground, to be 
entered from the latter. Of these tombs, despite the fact that 
they were situated under stables and outhouses, nine were built 
and purchased by such leading citizens as David Sears, John 
Gore, Uriah Cotting, Edward Blake and others. 

The records of the selectmen contain numerous grants of 
tombs, with sundry conditions as to the manner of building and 
maintenance. The introduction to the first fifteen grants runs : — 

" April 1:], 1T21. Voted, That whereas tlie Town of Boston at a Pub- 
licke Town >[enting on the 2i)t]i Day of aprill, 1719, Ordered that the 
South Burying place /liould be Inlaifjed next tlie Common or Training 
field, In jtersuance of which vole or order, The /electmen in the year 
1720 did iidarge the ./aid Burying Place, At which time /undry of the 
Inhabitants of tlie/aid Town to tlie Number of fifteen desired Liberty 
to Erect new Toombs, on the South Line of the/aid Burying place, wliich 
the /electmen Clranted, on Condition they would cary uji and maintain, 
a brick wall, on /aid Line at the End of their Toombs, which /aid line 



of Toombs begins at the upper or West Corner of the /aid Burying Place 
next the Aim's House." 

In a description of Boston written in the Columbian Magazine 
at Philadelphia, in \1787, among the chief buildings mentioned 
wei'e '• a workhouse; a bridewell; a public granary." All these 
three, and especially the last, are closely connected with the 
Granary Burial Ground. 

In the Provincial days, the question of the grain supply was 
of great importance to the town. Grain was frequently scarce, 
and but few of the inhabitants were so wealthy as not to be 
affected thereby. On December 29, 1718, the selectmen reported 
that in provision against such scarcity 'they had "purchased 
10,000 weight of bread, at 40 shill p hundred for the fupply of 
ye Inhabit^*." It was ordered sold during one month in small 
quantities to such as desired to purchase. On October 16, 1733, 
also a contract was made with two of the selectmen, John Jeffries 
and David Colson, to erect a granai'y or "Meal House" in the 
North End "on a piece of land belonging to the Town near the 
North Mill," the cost not to exceed £100. 

The granary in the southern part of the town, after which the 
cemetery is called, was built in 1729 near the foot of Park street. 
In 1737 it was moved to the present site of Park Street Church 
as a result of the addition of the workhouse to the neighboring 
town buildings. There had been for some years an agitation for 
a new workhouse, but the project had been deferred on account 
of the expense. A subscription in 1736 contributed £4368, given 
by 123 persons. A committee appointed to consider the matter 
reported on March 29, 1737, recommending a location near the 
granar}', while the latter building was to be removed to the 
corner of Tremont street. 

It was a long, wooden building, framed with oak timbers, of 
plain and gloomy appearance, with a capacity of 12,000 bushels. 
The grain was purchased and stored each year by the town's 
agents, and sold to the needy at an advance of ten per cent, in 
price. The keeper of this granary for a long period was Francis 
Willoughby. In the troublous da^'s, prior to the breaking out of 
the Revolution, the granary was kept well stored until the end 
of the Revolutionary War. In 1795 the town voted to sell the 
buildings on condition of an early removal. It remained ten- 
anted by various tradesmen, refreshment stands, etc., until 1809, 
when it was removed to Commercial Point, Dorchester, and 
altered into a hotel. 

Further up on Park street were the almhouse, workhouse, and 
bridewell, built of brick. The almhouse was erected on the 
corner of Beacon street in 1686, and was a two-storied building, 
with gambrel roof and projecting gable. Later a wing was 
added. It remained in use until the opening of the almhouse on 
Leverett street in 1802. 

The workhouse, the subscription for which has already been 
mentioned, was erected for the detention of the vagrant and dis- 



solute in 1738. It was soinewluit larger than the alnislioiise, 
being 140 feet long, witb gables, and also two-storied. 

The bridewell, a combined bouse of correction and insane 
asylum, was smaller than the other two buildings and stood in 
the centre of Park street. In front were two of the three trees 
growing on the Common in 1722, according to Bonner's nr.ap. 
There was also a Bull house standing close to the bounds of the 
yard, for the Eecords of the Selectmen Feb. 25, 1735, state that 
" Liberty is granted to M'. John Kneeland to break up the 
Ground in the South Burying Place between the Bull House and 
the north east corner of it, in order for the Building Five Tombs." 
This Bull house was in reality but a shed used temporarily for 
the stabling of the town's bulls. 

Not far away, on the corner of Hamilton place and Tremont 
street, was a manufacturing house erected by the province for the 
encouragement of spinning, etc. This was demolished in 1806. 
In 1783 it was voted, " That Part of Common Street between 
the Grainery and the North end of the Burying Ground Adjoin- 
ing be the Places for the Wood Markets for all 

the AVood brought by land into this Town for Sale." 

These were the rather j)rosaic and dismal surroundings of the 
early cemetery. Dingy buildings and ill-kept fences were all that 
Park street had to show a century since. INIan}' of tlie towns- 
people, on their way to the Common or the Training Field, were 
often moved to generous pity by begging hands thrust through 
tlie almshouse fence and by the appeals of the poor and orphans 
within. 

The Granary burial ground was used as a pasture lot for that 
purpose to John Woodmansey in 1678 (7 Boston Rec. 120, 
204). 

April 26, 1703, George Ripley was appointed to take care of 
watering the Bulls "and to put them by night in the burrying 
place." In 1713 " ye 21th of Aprill, The Selectmen have agreed 
according to James Williams' proposals to Lett unto him the 
grass of Ye South burying place " for " Fourty Shillings" he to 
make good all damages " w'^'' may happen to the graves by reason 
of his Cows going there." 

It appears from the town's records Feb. 28, 1727, "Ordered 
That the Town Treasurer abate mess'* Ezekel Lewis & James 
Williams Twenty Six Shillings and Eight i)ence being one third 
part of the Last years Rent of the South Burying Place, by 
Reason they Lost i)art of the feed the fence being Down Some 
time." 

At a meeting of the Selectmen June 2nd 1756 Voted: "To 
order the Sextons to Stubl) up some Poisonous AVeeds in the 
Burying grounds near the Alms House." 

May 17, 1758, At a meeting of the selectmen "John Ramstead 
hierd the Herbage of the South Burying grounds for One year 
at three pounds Six Shillings & Eight pence p Annum." 

Trees were ordered planted along all the cemeteries in 1712. 
(11 Boston Rec. 157). 



9 

As the town exitanded southward, however, some attempt was 
made to beautify the neighborhood, mainly by the planting of 
trees. In March 1733, it was voted that- " the row of trees 
already planted on the Common should be taken care of by the 
Selectmen," and that "another row be planted at a suitable 
distance from the former, and a row of posts be set up with a 
rail on top of them." This fence was to extend " through the 
Common from the Burying Place to Colonel Fitche's fence, 
leaving openings at the several streets and lanes." In 1737 the 
Common was separated from the Granary by a fence running up 
the hill; and two years later, one was ordered "set up" to 
Beacon street. A fence similar to the former was maintained 
until 1836, when the iron fence designed by Richard Upjohn was 
built around the Common at an expense of $82,160. 

In the fall of 1784, a third row of trees was planted on the 
Common, inside the other two, by Oliver Smith and others. 

The greatest gratitude is due, however, for the planting of the 
famous row of beautiful elms on " Paddock's Mall," in front of 
the burying ground. These were set out in 1762 by Capt, Adino 
Paddock and Mr. John Ballard. The former was a coach 
builder, and kept his shop at what is now the corner of Winter 
and Tremont streets, where formerly lived -Daniel Maud, the 
schoolmaster, on a lot granted in 1637. Mr. Ballard was a 
public spirited resident of the North End. 

The mall in ancient days was about 350 feet long, and before 
the "straitening" of 1717 comprised part of the present ceme- 
tery. The erection of the cemetery fence further narrowed the 
walk, which at first lay so near the highway that the footpath 
barely protected the roots of the trees from passing vehicles. 
Later another walk was added on the street edge, some inches 
lower than the inner path, and separated from it by a curbstone. 
Along this walk in the old days, as well as within the Common, 
stood refreshment booths set up on holidays. 

Captain Paddock's elms were imported from England as sap- 
lings and were kept in a nursery at Milton until capable of being 
transplanted. They grew to a noble size and retained their ver- 
dure five or six weeks longer than the native elms on the 
Common. They are supposed to have extended from Park 
Street Church northerly to the larch tree that grew in the ceme- 
tery over the victims of the Boston Massacre, and were probably 
about sixteen in number. 

These old elms, long the favorite resort of the birds and the 
gray squirrels, were narrowly threatened with destruction in 1860 
from the march of trade ; and in 1870 but eleven, already infirm 
with age, were standing. Since then, they have all, despite 
indignant protests, fallen unfortunate victims to the modernizing 
of Tremont street. The largest stood nearest the Tremont 
House, and in 1870, as told by Shurtleff, measured sixteen feet 
ten inches in circumference at the sidewalk. 

Captain Paddock took the most precious care of them while he 
lived. It is related of Jacob Kuhn, for many years the honest 



10 

and vigilant messenger of the State House, that " it was he who, 
when a young lad, was jiassing along the (iranaiy Burj'ing- 
grouud, shortly after Mr. Paddock had caused a row of young 
trees to be set out on the sidewalk. lie took hold of one of 
those slender saplings, and thoughtlessly began to shake it. In 
a moment Mr. Paddock darted out from his house opposite and 
served him as he had served the tree." In the celebration of the 
repeal of the Stamp Act on May 19, 1766, the elms on the mall, 
as well as the Liberty Tree, were decorated with lanterns. 

In the "Massachusetts Gazette Extraordinary" of May 22 of 
the same year, and in the "Evening Post" of May 26, Captain 
Paddock was forced to insert the following notice : 

" 2i^=" Tlie Row of Trees opposite Mr. Paddock's shop have of late 
received Damage by persons inadvertently breaking off the Hmbs of the 
most flourisliinj^. The Youth of both sexes are requested, as they pass 
that way, not to molest them ; those trees being planted at a consider- 
able expense, for an Ornament and Service to the Town. Not one of 
the trees was injured tlie Night of General Rejoicing, but last Night 
several limbs were broke off." 

Again, on August 26, 1771, Captain Paddock advertised as 
follows in the " Evening Post " : 

"A GUINEA REWARD 

Will be given by the subscriber to any one who shall inform him of the 
Person or Persons that on Thursday night last cut and hacked one of 
the Trees opposite his House in Long Acre." 

" As the said Row of Trees were planted and cultivated at a consider- 
able expense, it is hoped that all persons will do their Endeavour to dis- 
countenance said Practices. 

Adino Paddock." 

Long Acre was a popular name for Tremont street beween 
School and Winter streets, because it was largely occupied by coach 
builders, like Long Acre in London. The outrage may have been 
due to the fact that Paddock, who, out of respect for London's 
famous carriage-building district, had given the name of Long 
Acre to that part of Tremont street between W^inter street 
and King's Chapel, was a Tory. At the time of the Evacua- 
tion, five 3'ears later, he left the town forever, and went to Hali- 
fax. At all events, during the Revolution the elms suffered no 
injury from the ruthless British soldier}'. It is said that many 
years after the Revolution, Paddock wrote to a friend in Boston 
expressing his gratitude that his favorite trees had come un- 
scathed through the Revolution. 

They also survived, with more or less damage, the great gales 
of 1815, 1860, and 1869. When the stone foundation was laid 
for the iron fence built in front of the cemetery in 1840 at a cost 
of S5,000, and when Tremont street was paved with brick, their 
roots suffered seriously and their nourishment was nuu-h dimin- 
ished ; but they lived through it all with little impairment of their 
grace and beauty. 



I 



11 

Captain Paddock, their sponsor, was one of the commanders 
of the train of artillery, and also served many years as sealer of 
leather. He stayed a year in Halifax after the Evacuation, then 
embarked for England. In 1781 he became an officeholder in 
the Isle of Jersey and there died March 25, 1804, aged 76. 

The trees within the burying-ground itself were largely pro- 
vided by private subscription, and were planted in the spring of 
1830. Since that date, there have been various additions made 
to the trees and shrubbery, and most of the paths have been laid 
out, as w^ell as a foolish symmetry attained by rearranging the 
gravestones. — Gleaner. 

The Granary was less fitted naturally than Copp's Hill for a 
burial-ground. It continually required draining, as is evidenced 
by many orders, petitions and votes set forth in the town's 
records, there being many underground springs which made the 
turf damp and boggy. At the time of the moving of the Gran- 
ary in 1737, the tombs were filled with water by the temporary 
cessation of drainage, while the old drain, which had emptied 
upon the Common, was being replaced by a new one emptying into 
the common sewer. Remains of this old drain were uncovered 
in 1868, when the foundations of the Brewer fountain were being 
laid. 

The old Bellingham tomb, near the westerly wall, given to 
Governor James Sullivan, when the Bellingham family became 
extinct, was found by the latter, when he sought to repair it, 
about a century ago, partly filled with water. 

Overcrowding and neglect marked the history of the Granary, 
as well as of the other cemeteries of Boston. In 1740 a petition 
was presented to the selectmen from John Chambers and others, 
grave-diggers, declaring that " the old and South Burying Places 
are so filled with Dead Bodies, they are obliged oft times to bury 
them four deep, praying it may be laid before the Town, for 
their consideration." At their leisure, the authorities began to 
look about for a new burying-ground, and on October 11, 1754, 
selected, and in 1756 purchased, "a portion of Colonel Fitche's 
pasture at the bottom of the Common." The tract decided upon 
embraced about two acres, and then belonged to Andrew Oliver, 
Jr. This was the South Burying-ground, later known succes- 
sively as the Common and Central Ground. 

Intennents continued, however, in the Granary and also in 
King's Chapel, amid complete indifference on the part of the 
town, and with very disagTeeable results a century or more later. 

In 1795, attention was again drawn to the crowded condition 
of the two Tremont-street cemeteries. A committee appointed 
to consider means of discontinuing the opening of graves in the 
Granary and King's Chapel, reported on November 6, 1795, that 

" having consulted physicians of the town, they find it to be, in their 
opinion, tliat the liealth of the inhabitants is in danger from the 
crowded state of tliese grounds, and the exhalations which must fre- 
quently arise from the opening of graves thereon. In addition to which, 
they find it is almost impossible to open new graves without disturb- 



12 

ing the relics of the dead already interred. From an equal regard to 
health, for a decent respect for tlio living and the dead, they recom- 
mend to the inhabitants to adopt the following measures: 

" First : That no graves or new tombs shall be opened or built 
in either the Common or Chapel Bvirying-ground, after May 
Ist next. 

" Second: As the South lUirying-ground is already sufficiently 
large for the i)resent accommodation of the inhabitants, and 
will admit of such enlargement, that the Selectmen be em- 
powered to allot to any inhabitant who may apply for the same, 
sufficient ground for erecting a tomb in the ground, and en- 
large the said South Buryiug-ground in a direction westerly 
whenever the public convenience shall in their judgment re- 
quire it." 

The report was accepted, but interments in the tombs still con- 
tinued, altliougb no new graves were opened. 

In 1879 the city council sat upon the matter. Numerous 
ol)jections to closing the tombs were made on sentimental 
grounds. The board of health, however, held that the practice 
was a menace to public health, the odor being such as to sicken 
persons in the vicinity. The tombs were exceedingly dilapi- 
dated, giving free vent to gases, and in some instances men cut- 
ting grass had fallen into them. The soil of both the Granary 
and King's Chapel was fairly saturated with buried remains, the 
two cemeteries containing about 3,000 bodies. "Dives," de- 
clared the board, " is no sweeter in decomposition than Lazarus." 
The result was an order forbidding further interments. 

The main interest of a burial-ground is in those who tenant it. 
Here, in the heart of the populous, living city, swept round by 
the central pulse and tingle of Boston life, yet utterly aloof, 
sleep the dead of a different and departed Boston. Here are thej' 
who builded the rude village, who managed the growing town. 
Save for a few modern memorials erected in patriotic commemo- 
ration, the stones are gray and old and worn. Neatl}^ piled in a 
corner are fragments of slabs, broken, defaced, detached from 
their unknown places, so illegible that none can tell in memory of 
whom they were carved. Though kept with all care and neat- 
ness, the cemetery is slowly mouldering away. 

The inhabitants of the town of Boston were at an early day 
keenly alive to business and thrift. The records of the town 
evidence tliis in many ways and every possible income Avas ex- 
acted from the old burial-grounds. Reference has already been 
made to sales of herbage and the letting for pastures. Grave- 
diggers were appointed to office l)y the selectmen and their 
charges fixed ami regulated from time to time by the town. 

April 28, 1701, it was "Ordered that the digging of Graves 
in the two South burrying places shall be Three Shillings for 
each grave for a grown persons Corps from the first day of Aprill 
to the first day of October, and four Shillings, from the first day 
of October, to the first day of Aprill yearly, and James Williams 
in behalfe of his mother undertakes to take care of digging the 
graves in the two South burriall i)laccs for this year at that 
rate." 



13 

Later in the same year the selectmen being " Enformed by the 
grave digers that they often faile of receiving their pay of Sever- 
all of the poorer Sort of persons and that much time is spent in 
waiting on burrialls besides the noysomness and other difficultyes 
attending their work at Some Seasons of the year more than 
other, The price for digging graves was ordered to be four shil- 
Ungs throught the year for a man or woman." 

Thirty years later (May 17, 1732) finds a new schedule of 
rates adopted. 

For white man or woman 10 shillings 

For persons 6 to 12 years of age .... 7 shillings 

For children caryed by hand .... 5 shillings 

For negro man or woman ... 7 shillings & G pence 
Ditto from six to twelve years of age . . 6 shillings 

For children. four shillings 

For opening the new or wall Toombes . . 14 shillings 
For opening the Old Toombes or those that 

stand in the midst of the Burying Places sixteen shillings 

These charges for some reason were reduced Sept. 13, 1745, 
when another change was voted. At this time the " Prices to be 
paid in old tenor bills." 



For digging a grave white man or woman 
For children by hand .... 
For a negro man or woman at ye South 
For ditto at the North Burial Ground. 
For ditto to 12 years of age at both places 
For opening a wall tomb 
For opening an old tomb 



. nine shillings 
. four shillings 
. seven shillings 
. eight shillings 
five shillings 
twelve shillings 
fourteen shillings 



Still later, Dec. 28, 1748, Voted : " That the Grave Diggers in 
the South Burying places be Allowed for Digging a Grave for a 
man or woman Sixteen Shillings old tenor, for children eight 
shillings." 

It is likely that the first graves dug in the Granary were 
unmarked with stones, and burials therein were not numerous. 
Though the ground was laid out in 1660, no stone has been 
found of an earlier date than 1667, The oldest stone discovered 
is one found west of the Frankhn monument, and bearing the 
following inscription : 

HERE LIES YE BODY OF 
JOHN WAKEFIELD. 

AGED .52 YEARS 

DEC'D JUNE YE 18 

1667. 

The oldest horizontal slab, as well as the first metrical epitaph, 
records the death of Mrs. Hannah Allen, wife of Rev. .James 
Allen, pastor of the First Church, She died on February 26, 
1667, aged twenty-one. The verse on her tomb reads : 



14 

STAY ! THOU THIS TOM HE THAT PASSETH BY 

AND THINK HOW SOON THAT THOU MAYST DIE : 

IF SEX, OK AGE, OK VIKTUES BRIGHT 

WOULD HAVE PROLONGED TO THESE IT MIGHT, 

THOUGH VIRTUE MADE NOT DEATH TO STAY, 

YET TURN'D IT WAS TO BE THEIR WAY, 

AND IF WITH THEM THOU WOULDST BE BLEST, 

PREPARE TO DY'E BEFORE THOU REST. 

Perliai)s no burial-ground in New England contains names 
more distingiiisbed. Though the Granary is not so actively con- 
nected with local history as is Copp's Hill, yet a greater number 
of famous Bostonians are here buried. Here lie governors of the 
province and state, judges, ministers, and town leaders, together 
with some of the leading figures of the Revolution. 

The conspicuous monument in the centre of the yard, erected 
over the parents of Franklin, draws perhaps most attention from 
the casual visitor. Nearby sleep others of the Franklin family. 
The original stone, erected by Franklin himself, had become so 
dilapidated that in 1827 it was replaced by the present stone, the 
gift of " a number of citizens." 

Josiah Franklin, the father, was born in Ecton in Northampton- 
shire, in 1598, and during the non-comformist persecution came 
over to New England in 1685. Abiah, whose name shares the 
inscription, was his second wife. In his memoir, their youngest 
son, Benjamin, writes, "I never knew either my father or mother 
to have sickness but that of which they died, he at eighty-nine, 
and she at eighty-five j^ears of age. They lie buried together at 
Boston, where I, some years since, placed a marble over their 
grave with this inscription : — 

JOSIAH FRANKLIN 
AND 

ABIAH HIS WIFE, 

LIE HERE INTERRED. 

THEY LIVED LOVINGLY TOGETHER IN WEDLOCK 

FIFTY^-FIVE Y^EARS. 

AND WITHOUT AN ESTATE OR ANY GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT, 

BY CONSTANT LABOR AND HONEST INDUSTRY, 

MAINTAINED A LARGE FAMILY COMFORTABLY", 

AND BROUGHT UP THIRTEEN CHILDREN AND SEVEN 

GRANDCHILDREN REPUTABLY'. 

FROM THIS INSTANCE, READER, 

BE ENCOURAGED TO DILIGENCE IN THEY" CALLING, 

AND DISTRUST NOT PROVIDENCE. 

HE WAS A PIOUS AND PRUDENT MAN; 

SHE A DISCREET AND VIRTUOUS WOMAN. 

THEIR Y"OUNGEST SON, 

IN FILIAL REGARD TO THEIR MEMORY, 

PLACES THIS STONE. 

J. F. BORN lG5r), DIED 1744, AE. 89. 
A. F. BORN 1667, DIED 1752, AE. 85. 

This stone was replaced on June 15, 1827, by the present mon- 
ument, which is an obelisk of Quincy granite twenty-one feet 
high. On the front side in bronze letters is affixed the name 




FRANKLIN TOMB, GRANARY BURIAL-GROUND. 



15 

"Franklin." On a bronze table beneath, sunk into the stone, 
is carved Franklin's epitaph, with the following inscription below 
it: 

THE ORIGINAL INSCRIPTION HAVING BEEN NEARLY 

OBLITERATED 

A NUMBER OF CITIZENS 

ERECTED THIS MONUMENT, AS A MARK OF RESPECT 

FOR THE 

ILLUSTRIOUS AUTHOR, 

MDCCCXXVII. 



Under the corner-stone were placed an inscribed silver plate, 
a Franklin medal, and several other medals. The inscription on 
the plate declares that "This monument was erected over the 
remains of the Parents of Benjamin Franklin, by the citizens of 
Boston, from respect to the private character and public services 
of this illustrious patriot and philosopher, and for the many 
tokens of his affectionate attachment to this native town." 

Perhaps the most famous tenant of the Granary is Samuel 
Adams. On the bowlder placed over his grave by the Massachu- 
setts Society of the Sons of the Revolution, the inscription 
runs : 

Heke lies bubied 

Samuel Adams 

Signer of the Declaration of Independence 

Governor of this Commonwealth 

A Leader of Men and an ardent Patriot 

Born 1722 Died 1803 

massachusetts sons of the 

SOCIETY revolution. 

1898. 



There is little need of recounting the public fame of " Sam 
Adams." As to his personal career, he was born in Boston, Sep- 
tember 15, 1722, being the son of Captain Samuel Adams, a 
brewer. He was sent to Harvard to become a minister, but the 
charm of politics lured him from the pulpit to the forum. The 
subject of his oration at graduation was : " Whether it be lawful 
to Resist the Supreme Magistrate, if the Commonwealth cannot 
otherwise be preserved? " Adams decided that it is. 

He was vainly launched on a mercantile career. After an in- 
different apprenticeship in a counting house, his father lent him 
£1,000 with which to begin business. Of this sum, he lent one 
half to a friend in distress, and never exacted payment. The 
rest was soon frittered away. 

Adams then devoted heart and soul to his true vocation — 
politics. With voice and pen, he led the way to revolution. In 
a few brief years, he induced his countrymen to boycott British 
goods till the repeal of the Stamp Act ; inspired the Boston Tea 
Party ; originated the Provincial Congress ; and created the pub- 
lic opinion which upheld all these measures. 



16 

After seiviiig in Congress tlironoh the war, he returned to find 
his house practically destroyed by the British. The premature 
death of his son, Dr. Adams, hoM'ever, left him a competence for 
old age. He hecame an ardent Republican, despite the political 
obloquy thus incurred. He was chosen governor by a narrow 
margin, and in 1796 received a scattering vote for President. 
He died in October, 1803, aged eighty-two. Party feeling ran 
80 deep at the time that with difficulty were got for him the 
funeral honors due to one of exalted rank. 

The character of this tril)une of the people is illuminated by his 
refusal to accept from the Biitish government a pension of £2,000 
to keep quiet, and by this opinion passed upon him by a Tory 
governor; — " Such is the obstinacy and the intlexil)le disposition 
of the man, that he never would bo conciliated by an}- office what- 
ever." 

Over the grave of the patriot orator, James Otis, is another 
bowlder, dedicated by the Massachusetts Society Sons of the 
Revolution. On the plate affixed to the stone is inscribed the 
following epitaph : 

Here lies buried 
James Otis 
Orator and Patriot of the Revolution 
Famous for his Argument 
against Writs of Assistance 
Born 1725 Died 1783 

massachusetts sons of the 

society revolution 

1898. 

Otis was born in Barnstable on February 5, 1725. After 
graduating from Harvard in 1743, he studied law and was 
admitted to the bar in Plymouth in 1748, removing to Boston in 
1750. 

His brilliant and stormy public career ])egan with his famous 
opposition to the Writs of Assistance, allowing the king's officers 
to break open any citizen's store or dwelling in their search for 
goods on which duty had not been paid and compelling sheriffs 
and others to aid in the hateful work. Otis resigned rather than 
uphold the writs. In fact, he was chosen to contest their legality 
l)efore a court held amid great excitement in the old town hall. 
Gridley, the crown advocate, argued that parliamentary suprem- 
acy left no ground for complaint. The answering speech of Otis 
created a profound impression. " Otis was a flame of fire," 
wrote John Adams, "with a promptitude of classical allusions, 
a rapid summary of historical events and dates, a profusion of 
legal authorities, a prophetic glance of his eyes into futurity and 
a rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before 
him American independence was then and there born." 

The judges evaded a decision ; and the writs, though secretly 
granted at the next term, were never executed. 

In the following year, Otis was elected to the Legislature, 
where he became the leader of the popular party and earned the 



17 

title of " the greatest incendiary of New England." He offered 
on June 6, 1765, a motion recommending a provincial congress. 
The circular letter sent out in consequence resulted in the holding 
at New York in October of the Stamp Act Congress, to which 
Otis was a delegate. 

In 1768, after the passage of Townshend's plan of taxation, 
the House sent out another circular letter advising united action 
to obtain redress. Governor Bernard demanded that the letter be 
rescinded. Otis thereupon made a speech which the partisans of 
the government termed "the most violent, insolent, abusive and 
treasonable declaration that has perhaps ever been delivered." 
By a vote of ninety-two to seventeen, the House refused to 
rescind. 

In the summer of 1769 Otis inserted a notice in the Boston 
" Gazette," denouncing the customs commissioners for having 
charged him with treason. The next evening in a coffee-house, 
he met Robinson, one of the commissioners. An affray ensued 
in which Otis was severely injured by a blow on the head from a 
cudgel. He obtained £2,000 damages from Robinson, but 
restored the amount on receiving an apology. 

The blow, however, had ruined his career. Henceforth he was 
but a wreck of the orator and scholar. In 1770 he retired to 
Andover, for his health. The next year, in the Legislature, he 
made practically his last public appearance. Save at intervals, 
during the rest of his life, his mind was deranged. During his 
insanity, he destroyed all his papers. On May 23, 1783, while 
standing at the door or the house in which he lodged at Andover, 
he was killed by lightning, the death he is said to have desired. 

The stones placed over the graves of Adams and Otis are 
handsome bowlders of Roxbury puddingstone, and easily consti- 
tute the most artistic memorials in the Granary. The following 
account regarding them is taken from a historical sketch of the 
Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the Revolution, l)y Mr. 
Walter Oilman Pase : 



" On the one liimdred and twenty-third anniversary of the battle of 
Lexington, the Sons of the Revolution gathered about the tomb of 
Samuel Adams in the Old Granary Burial-ground. For ninety-five 
years the spot where the mortal remains of Samuel Adams were laid 
away had been unmarked, and almost unknown, at least to a large pro- 
portion of the citizens of Boston. 

" On March 20, 1898, the tomb was opened for purposes of identifica- 
tion, though it was well known that Samuel Adams was buried in the 
Checkley Tomb, the property of his wife. It was necessary to remove 
the earth to about the depth of three feet before the two stone slabs 
which lay across the short flight of steps leading down into the mouth 
of the tomb could be reached. The tomb was found to be in excellent 
condition, perfectly intact, constructed solidly of brick throughout, the 
roof being slightly curved. Every indication furnished satisfactory 
evidence, and left no doubt, if any existed, that the great organizer of 
the Revolution was laid to rest in the Checkley tomb: 

"Sanmel Adams Wells, the grandson of Samuel Adams, made the 
following memorandum, which appears in the appendix of a volume of 
poems by John Witt Randall, great-grandson of Adams: 



18 

" ' Samuel Adams was buried in the Checkley Tomb, which adjoins the 
westerly sidewalk of Tremont street in Boston. His bones were 
gathered into a box by liis grandson, and deposited in a corner of the 
vault. 

'Teste, S. A. Wells.' 

" The rugged granite bowlder with its tablet of bronze is in perfect 
keeping with the ancient character of the Old Burial-ground, in which 
it has found a permanent abiding-place. No otlier form of memorial 
would have been so appropriate; and the selection was a happy one, 
typifying, as it so well does, the bold and firm nature of the man whose 
iilustrious memory it guards. Placed at the head of the fiiglit of steps, 
leading down to the entrance of the tomb, it was unveiled with simple 
but impressive speech, and presented to the City that Samuel Adams 
loved so well. 

" In the same lino of tombs, but on the opposite side of the entrance 
to the Old Granary, and equally distant from it, interred i-n the Longley 
tomb, repose the remains of the liery orator and ardent patriot, .lames 
Otis. The proofs of this fact are so interesting in themselves that per- 
haps no apology is needed for recording them here in this connection at 
some length. 

" That the location of the burial-place of James Otis, one of the 
great leaders in the Revolution, should have been forgotten for over 
half a century, seems almost incredible; but many circumstances have 
tended to veil it from public knowledge. For many years, queries have 
appeared in the daily press and historical publications, asking for 
information on the subject. Conjectures were made that he was buried 
in West Barnstable, where he was born; while many others have be- 
lieved that he was buried at Andover, Mass., where he was killed by 
lightning. And this sujiposition was strengthened by the fact of his re- 
quest, shortly before his death, to be buried on a knoll directly in the 
rear of Mr. Osgood's house at Andover. Local historians have looked 
in vain for any clow that would lead to a solution of the mystery. 

'•But by collecting probate records, family history gathered from 
various sources, and the traditions of one family connected with the 
Cunningham family, of the generation contemporary with James Otis, 
the tomb in which were interred the remains of the lion. James Otis, 
the distinguished i^atriot of the Revolution, has finally been discovered, 

" Thomas Bridgman, who wrote a book of epitaphs of the Granary 
Burying-ground, does not mention the name of Otis. The bronze tab- 
lets on the iron gates do not record the fact that James Otis is buried 
within the grounds. But our records are conclusive that James Otis 
was buried in tliat burying-ground after his remains were brought from 
Andover to his dwelling in Boston, and the funeral cortege that marched 
from the house to tlie ground was one of the largest ever beheld in 
Boston. 

'• In the records of St. John's lodge of A. F. & A. M. of Boston is 
recorded tlie fact than .James Otis was made a Mason in the year 1752, 
and was a member of that lodge. This lodge escorted his remains to 
the tomb. 

•'The newspapers published at the time of Mr. Otis' death and 
funeral furnished but meagre accounts. The Boston Gazette or Country 
Journal, under date of Boston, May 26, 1783, says : — 

" 'We hear from Andover that last Friday Evening the House of Mr. 
Isaac Osgood was set on lire and much shattered by Lightning, by 
which the Hon. James Otis, Esq., of this Town, leaning upon his Cane 
at the front Door, was instantly killed. Several Persons were in the 
House at the Time, some of whom were violently affected by the Shock, 
but, immediately recovering, ran to Mr. Otis' support ; but he had 
expired without a groan. The Friends and Acquaintances of the 
Deceased are informed his Funeral is to be To-Morrow from his House 
near the County Court House. Freemasons are to preceed tlie Corps.' 

"The ^lassachusetts Spy or Worcester Gazette, under date Boston, 
May 29, ]78o, contains almost exactly the same account as above, with 
the following addition: 'His remains were honourably interred last 



19 

Tuesday afternoon, preceded by the honourable fraternity of free and 
accepted masons, and followed Ijy a long train of respectable friends.' 

" Mr. Otis' family were notified as soon as possible of the sudden 
death of Mr, Otis; and Samviel Allyne Otis, the youngest brother of Mr. 
Otis, proceeded at once to Andover, and brought his remains to Boston. 

"Colonel Joseph May, a prominent citizen of Boston, for many years 
a member of King's Chapel, who died in Boston in 1841, and to whose 
memory a marble tablet was placed on the wall of King's Chapel, was 
well versed in the history of Iioston. He came to breakfast after his 
usual morning walk, and said to the family : ' I have seen something 
wonderfully interesting this morning. As I passed the Old Granary 
Burying-ground, I saw that the tomb was open in which I knew were 
the remains of James Otis, and with the help of the sexton I opened 
the lid of Otis' coffin, and, behold ! the coffin was full of the fibrous 
roots of the elm, especially thick and matted about the skull ; and, 
going out, I looked at tlie noble elm, and there, in transfigured glory, I 
saw all that was material of James Otis.' " 

The elm referred to was undoubtedly one of the gigantic Pad- 
dock elms that formerly stood on the Tremont Street sidewalk in 
front of the burying-ground. 

The remains of James Otis were interred in the Nathaniel 
Cunningham, Sr., tomb, numbered forty on the Tremont Street 
front of the Granary Burying-ground, between the Park Street 
Church front and the gate of the Burying-ground. This tomb 
was built by Nathaniel Cunningham, Sr., a wealthy merchant of 
Boston, in 1726 (Boston records). Nathaniel Cunningham, Sr., 
his mother Ruth Cunningham, his son Nathaniel Cunningham, 
Jr., the Hon. James Otis, Ruth (Cunningham) Otis, wife of 
James Otis and daughter of Nathaniel Cunningham, Sr., and a 
number of others of this family, are buried in this tomb. The 
slate slab on the tomb bears the inscription only of George 
Longley, 1809. The absence of the names Cunningham and 
Otis from the tomb slab, together with the early death of Mr. 
Otis' family, caused the identification of this tomb with the 
name of Otis to be obscured. 

This tomb, after the death of Nathaniel Cunningham, Sr., was 
held by Ruth, Sarah, and Nathaniel Cunningham, Jr. ; Nathaniel 
Jr., dying soon after his father, left the two daughters, his 
sisters, Ruth and Sarah, heirs of the tomb. Ruth married 
James Otis; and, as her husband never owned a tomb, his 
widow caused his remains to be placed in this tomb, of which she 
was part owner, and wliich contained the remains of her an- 
cestors. 

Besides the heirship to the Cunningham tomb by the James 
Otis family, traditions have been handed down by well-known 
families that James Otis' remains were buried in the Cunningham 
tomb. 

On July 15, 1898, the anniversary of the storming of Stony 
Point by Anthony "Wayne, a boulder and tablet similar to the 
memorial already dedicated to the memory of Samuel Adams was 
unveiled in the presence of a large gathering, and presented by 
the Sons of the Revolution to Mayor Quiucy, who accepted the 
gift in behalf of the city. These two simple monuments shall be 



20 

a witnes8 to generations yet unborn that the descendants of the 
men who stood l)ehind Adams and Otis, perhaps tardil}', j'et 
worthily, honor their memories as true and tried patriots. 

The inscriptions for the Adams and Otis tablets were written 
by Dr. Samuel A. Green, of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society. 

In the southwestern corner of the ground a rough stone with 
this simple inscription, 

Np 16 

TOMB OF 

HANCOCK 



was all that marked the resting-place of John Hancock, the first 
governor of this Commonwealth. In 1895 the Commonwealth 
erected a magnificent steel monument, with the following inscrip- 
tion : 

OBSTA PRINCIPIIS 
• THIS • MEMORIAL • ERECTED • 
• A • D • MDCCCXCV • BY • THE • COM- 
MONWEALTH • OF • MASSACHV- 
SETTS • TO • MARK • THE • GRAVE • OF 
• JOHN • HANCOCK • 

Hancock was born in Quincy on January 12, 1737. After 
graduating from Harvard in 1754, he entered the clearing house 
of his wealthy uncle as a clerk. At 27 he came into possession 
of his uncle's estate, one of the largest in the province. 

His first public office was that of selectman, which he held 
for several years. At 29 he entered the Legislature. His strong 
convictions, coupled with his social and public prominence, nat- 
urally made him a leader in the popular ante-Eevolution move- 
ment. He was one of the committee which secured the removal 
of the British troops after the Boston Massacre. On an anniver- 
sary of the same occasion he delivered a bold and glowing ad- 
dress which deejjly offended the government. It had tried to win 
him over by intimidation and flattery, but now sought to repress 
him with a strong hand. Gage's expedition to Concord was 
partly with the jnirpose of seizing Hancock and Adams ; the 
quarry, however, escaped. 

In October, 1774, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress chose 
Hancock its president. The next year he became president of 
the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, serving till October, 
1777, when he resigned and retired to Quincy. His bold signa- 
ture to the Declaration, especially since at first the only one 
appended, bronglit him into conspicuous notice, and has since 
kei)t him there. ▼ 

Hancock was commissioned a major-general of the IMassachu- 
setts Militia and in August, 1778, commanded the Massachusetts 
troops in the ineffective Rhode Island expedition. 




JOHN HANCOCK TOMB, GRANARY BURIAL-GROUND. 



21 

He presided over the State Constitutional Convention in 1780 
and was chosen the first governor after its adoption. He was 
elected five successive years, and again, after an interval of two 
years, filled the chair until his death. In the presidential elec- 
tion of 1789 he received four electoral votes. 

As Hancock left no children, he bequeathed most of his fortune 
to benevolent purposes, generously remembering Harvard. The 
college conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. in 1792. He 
died on October 8, 1793. 

A headstone of notable patriotic significance, as that of a 
famous signer of the Declaration of Independence, is one bearing 
the simple inscription : 

NO. 88. 

THE TOMB OF K. T. PAINE, 

1810. 

Paine was born in Boston on March 11, 1731, and died there 
on May 11, 1814. On graduating from Harvard in 1749, he 
studied theology and in 1755 acted as army chaplain on the 
northern frontier. After a business voyage to Europe, he studied 
law, meanwliile supporting himself by teaching school. He began 
practice in Taunton and was chosen a delegate to the convention 
held in Boston after the dissolution of the General Court by 
Governor Bernard for its refusal to rescind its circular letter. 

In 1770 he added largely to his reputation by conducting, in 
the absence of the attorney-general, the case against Captain 
Preston and the troopers engaged in the Boston Massacre. 

He represented Taunton in the House of 1773 and 1774, and 
in 1774 and 1775 was a delegate to the Continental Congress. 
He was again in Congress in 1776, 1777 and 1778, meanwhile 
acting in 1777 as Speaker of the Massachusetts House and as 
attorney-general. In 1779 he was a member of the Executive 
Council and was one of the committee to frame the State consti- 
tution. 

He served as the first attorney-general of the State until 1790, 
when he became a justice of tiie Supreme Court. Deafness and 
ill-health, however, compelled him to resign in 1804. In the 
same year he was chosen State councillor, but shortly retired to 
private life. 

He was a founder of the American Academy established in 
1780. As attorney-general his strictness is said to have gained 
him a reputation for undue severity. 

Another noteworthy patriot interred in the Granary is the 
ingenious mechanic and ardent patriot, the messenger of the mid- 
night ride immortalized by Longfellow — Paul Revere. The in- 
scription on his headstone is as follows : 

PAUL REVERE 

BORN 

IN BOSTON, 

JANUARY, 1734, 

DIED 

MAY 1818. 



22 

Revere was born in Boston on January 1, 17;^."), and died in 
May, 1S18. He was Iliiguenot descent, the family name liaving 
been Hi voire. He was brought up to his father's trade of gold- 
smith. Before setting up in business, he served as a lieutenant 
of artillery in the colonial army. 

He speedily learned the art of copper-plate engraving, and was 
one of the four engravers in America at the time of tbe Revolu- 
tion. Many of his prints possess much historical significance 
and were very popular, such as that of "The Seventeen Re- 
scinders," at the time of Governor Bernard's effort to suppress 
the circular letter; " The Boston Massacre," etc. In 1775, when 
the Provincial Congress authorized the issue of paper mone}^ it 
was Revere who engraved the plates, made the press, and printed 
the bills. He was sent to Philadelphia to visit the powder mill 
there and to learn the method of its construction. He set up a 
mill in Boston on his return. 

Revere's active deeds as a patriot began with his participation 
in the Tea Party. He was forthwith sent to New York and 
Philadelphia to spread the news of what had been done. He was 
sent on a similar errand when the decree arrived closing the port 
of Boston. 

Then followed the famous ride to Lexington, to warn Hancock, 
Adams, and the rest of the coming of Gage to Concord. The 
story hardly needs retelling. Later Revere became a lieutenant- 
colonel in the defence of Massachusetts. After the Revolution, 
his career had still a military tinge, being devoted to the casting 
of cannon as well as church bells. Revere also attained consid- 
erable prominence as a Mason. 

Of equal interest with the tombs of these patriot leaders is the 
unmarked grave where sleep the humbler victims of the Boston 
Massacre. Their remains lie about twenty feet in from the iron 
fence and sixty feet south of the Tremout Building. Over the 
spot formerly grew a rich and beautiful larch-tree. 

In some lines on the Massacre in " Fleet's Post," published 
March 12, 1770, a local versifier sang: 

" Dear to your country shall your fame extend, 
While to tlie world the lettered stone shall tell 
How Caldwell, Attucks, Gray and Maverick fell." 

Sad to say, no stone fulfils tliis mission ; if ever there was one, 
it fell a victim to British spite or to the mistaken zeal of some 
attendant afllicted with an iconoclastic passion for repairs. 

The five here buried are : Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, 
James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr. The story 
of the historic fracas between the rope-makers and Preston's 
soldiers is too well known to need recounting. The first four 
were buried on March 8. A huge procession, four abreast, 
and bearing emblematic banners, followed the hearses to the 
Granary, while in the rear came practically all the carriages in 
Boston. During the funeral the bells were tolled in the town and 




PAUL REVERE TOMB, GRANARY BURIAL-GROUND. 



23 

the suburbs. On March 14, Patrick Carr, who had meanwhile 
died, was buried in the same grave. 

When the City tomb was being dug at the time the iron fence 
was erected in June, 1840, the bones of the five were discovered, 
as attested by a bullet-hole through one of the skulls, that of 
Samuel Gray. One of the sextons of King's Chapel, Martin 
Smith by name, replaced the bones in the earth close by the larch- 
tree. 

The Granary also has the honor of having been the temporary 
resting-place of the remains of Gen. Joseph Warren. In the 
spring of 1776, his corpse was deposited in the Minot tomb, on 
the southwestern side of the yard. In 1824, Dr. J. C. Warren 
opened the tomb and identified the patriot's relics by the bullet 
wound in the skull and the decay of one of the teeth. The 
remains were encased in a mahogany box and deposited in a 
tomb under St. Paul's Church. In August, 1855, they were 
deposited in a stone urn and transferred to Forest Hills where 
they still remain. 

Besides the Revolutionary heroes it contains, the Granary holds 
the remains of several of the old-time governors. The first of 
these was Governor Richard Bellingham, who, as shown by the 
following inscription, shares his tomb with a later governor : 



The family tomb of 
JAMES SULLIVAN, ESQ. 
late Governor and Commander in chief of the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 

who departed this life 
on the 10th Day of Dec'r A. D. 1808 

Aged 64 Years. 
His Remains are Here Deposited. 

During a life of remarkable industry, activity and usefulness, 
amidst Public and private contemporaneous avocations, 

uncommonly various, 

he was distinguished for zeal, intelligence and fidelity. 

Public-spirited, benevolent and social, 

he was eminently beloved as a man, eminently esteemed as a 

citizen, and eminently respected as a magistrate. 

Huic versatile ingenium Sic 

pariter ad omnia fuit, ut, adid unum diceres 

quod cum que ageret. 



HERE LIES 

RICHARD BELLINGHAM, ESQUIRE, 

LATE GOVERNOR IN THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 

WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE IN THE 7TH DAY OF DECEMBER, 1672, 

THE EIGHTY-FIRST YEARE OF HIS AGE. 

VIRTUE'S FAST FRIEND WITHIN THIS TOMB DOTH LYE, 
A FOE TO BRIBES, BUT RICH IN CHARITY. 



24 



The Bellingliaju Family being extinct 

The Selectmen of Boston in the Year 1782 

Assigned this Tomb to 

JAMES SULLIVAN, ESQ. 

The remains of Governor Bellingliam 

Are Here Preserved, 

And the above inscription is restored 

From the ancient Monviment. 



The second slab is raised on six stone pillars above the first, in 
practically the shape of a table. Each is of marble. 

Belliugham was first elected in 1641 by a narrow majority ; but 
the General Court was not satisfied as to the validity of the 
election. He was again chosen in 1654, and on the death of 
Endicott in May, 1665, was once more elected, ser\'ing continu- 
ously until his death. In all he served ten years as governor and 
thirteen as deputy governor, besides being chosen major-general 
in 1664. 

His second wife, married in 1641, was about to be contracted 
to a friend of Bellingham's, "when on a sudden the Governor 
treated with her and obtained her for himself." He performed 
the ceremony himself and to the strictiu'es of public opinion gave 
as his excuse the very natural one of "the strength of his 
affection." 

Hubbard describes him as " a verj^ ancient gentleman having 
spun a very long thread of above eighty years ; he was a great 
justiciary, a notable hater of tribes, firm and fixed in any reso- 
lution he entertained, of larger comprehension than expression, 
like a vessel whose vent holdeth no good proportion with its 
capacity to contain disadvantage to a public person." 

At the time of his death. Governor Bellingham was the sole 
surviving patentee named in the colonial charter. 

Governor Sullivan's was truly " a life of remarkable industry 
and usefulness," and his avocations "uncommonly various." 
He was about equally a lawyer, author, business man, and politi- 
cian, and very busy at each. He was born of Irish descent at 
Berwick, Maine, April 22, 1744. He stood high among the 
legal lights that came forth in New England toward the end of 
the century. During his seventeen years' service as attorney- 
general, he conducted many of the admiralty, probate, superior 
and supreme courts ; in addition, he had a heavy private prac- 
tice. As an author, he showed marked ability in the writing of 
law works, political tracts, and constant contributions to the 
poHtical controversies of the press. In public life, besides serv- 
ing on various commissions, he acted as representative, member 
of the council, delegate to Congress, and, after several close cam- 
paigns, was in 1807 and 1808 twice successful as Rei)ublican 
candidate for goveimor, dying before the end of his second term. 
He was one of the incorporators of the Middlesex Canal and 
largely instrumental in its final building. He helped found the 
Massachusetts Historical Society and was its first president. He 



25 

was exceedingly active, high spirited, eloquent, and hospitable, 
and was popular even with his Federalist opponents in times 
when part}^ feeling ran high. 

A beautifully chiselled coat-of-arms, with the inscription 
"JAMES BOWDOIN, ESQ." carved boldly above it on a tab- 
let of slate, marks the tomb of another famous governor, one of 
the chief magistrates of the State. The slab has been enclosed 
during the spring of the present year (1901) in a durable casing 
of bronze, which emphasizes its striking and well-preserved 
appearance. It stands in the southwest corner of the yard. 

Bowdoiu was born August 7, 1726, and died November 6, 
1790. Of him his eulogist. Judge Lowell, said: "It may be 
said that our country has produced many men of as much genius, 
many men of as much learning and knowledge, many of as much 
zeal for the liberties of their country and many of as great piety 
and virtue ; but is it not rare indeed, to find those in whom they 
have all combined and been adorned with his other accomplish- 
ments ? " ' 

Bowdoin was graduated from Harvard in 1 745 and at twenty- 
four began a hfe long friendship with Franklin. He was later 
elected a fellow of the Royal Society and was the first president 
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

He served three years in the Provincial Legislature and six- 
teen in the Council, wherein he was styled by Wedderburn, " the 
leader and manager as Mr. Adams was in the House." Illness 
prevented his going as one of the five Massachusetts dele- 
gates to the first Continental Congress. He presided over the 
constitutional convention in 1780, and in 1785 was elected gov- 
ernor. During his second term, he quelled the difficulties of 
Shay's Rebellion with great moderation. His last public capacity 
was that of a member in the state convention which in 1788 rati- 
fied the Constitution. 

Another worthy and notable tenant of the Granary is G-overnor 
AYilliam Dummer, who was prominent in public life a half century 
before Bowdoin. Dummer, though born in Massachusetts, in 
1679, was, when appointed lieutenant-governor, holding a com- 
missioner's office in Plymouth, England. He was left governor 
on the departure of Shute in 1723 and held that post till Burnet's 
arrival in 1728. He enjoyed a second shorter tenure between 
Burnet's death and the term of his successor, William Tailer. 
His administration was honest and upright and distinguished by 
successful campaigns against the Indians. After 1730, Dum- 
mer hved in retirement till his death on October 10, 1761, at the 
age of eighty- two. He was a man of pure character and of 
marked piety and charity. 

Gov. Christopher Gore also lies buried in the Granary. He 
was born in Boston in 1758 and graduated from Harvard in 
1776. After some years' service as L^nited State attorney, he 
was appointed with William Pinckney a commissioner under 
Jay's treaty to settle our spoliation claims against England. 



26 

After his return, he succeeded Governor Sullivan in 1809, but in 
the following year was replaced by Governor Gerry. From 
1814 he served three years as United States Senator, then retir- 
ing from public life. 

On the conspicuous stone over the grave of another governor, 
Increase Sumner, is carved the following laudatory epitai)h : 

Here reposes 
the remains of 

INCREASE SUMNER, 

Born at Roxbury 

Nov. 27, 1746, 

Died at same place 

June 7, 1799. 

He was for some time a pi-actitioner at the Bar ; 
And for fifteen years an Associate Justice 
of the Supreme Judicial Court ; 
Was thrice elected 

GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS 

in which office he died 
As a Lawyer, he was faithful and able ; 
As a Judge patient, impartial and decisive 

As a Chief Magistrate 
accessable, frank and independent. 

In the vigour of intellectual attainments 
and in the midst of usefulness 
he was called by Divine Providence 
to rest with his fathers, 
he went down to the chambers of death, 
in the full belief, that the grave 
is the pathway to future existence. 
As in life be secured the suffrages of the free. 
And was blessed with the approbation of the wise, 
So in death he was honoured by the tears of the patriotic 
And is held in sweet remembrance 
by a discerning 
and affectionate people. 

In private life. 
He was affectionate and mild ; 
In public life, 
He was dignified and firm, 
Party feuds were allayed 
by the correctness of his conduct, 
Calumny was silenced 
by the weight of his virtues, 

And rancour softened 
by the amenity of his manners. 

This compendious epitaph leaves little to be said. Sumner 
was graduated from Harvard with distinction in 1767, and, 
beginning with 1776, served three terms in the General Court, as 
well as two in the Senate from 1780. He was a member of the 
Constitutional Convention of 1779-80, as also later of the con- 




INCREASE SUMNER TOMB, GRANARY BURIAL-GROUND. 



27 

vention which accepted the federal constitution. In August, 
1782, he was appointed an associate justice of the Supreme 
Judicial Court, and in January, 1785, was added to the committee 
to revise the State laws. In 1796, though averse to being a 
candidate, lie was elected governor, and was thrice reelected by 
great majorities. He did not live to enter on his last term. 

As the inscription on his tomb would indicate, no governor 
was more trusted and beloved. His remains were interred with 
military honors at the public expense, the funeral procession 
extending from Roxbury to the State House. 

Perhaps none of the graves in the Granary contain a more 
interesting and notable pexsonage than does the populous Sewall 
tomb, which already had at the opening of the Revolution at 
least forty occupants, chief among them the famous chronicler of 
provincial days. Judge Samuel Sewall. The tomb was built by 
Sewall's father-in-law, John Hull, the master of the mint, who 
lies buried therein, and who is noted for having bestowed as a 
dowry on his daughter, Hannah, at her marriage to Sewall, her 
weight in bright silver Pine Tree shillings from his mint. 

Judge Sewall was born on March 28, 1652, at Bishop Stoke, 
Hampshire County, England, and was brought over to Boston in 
the second and final migration of his parents hither in 1661. He 
was graduated from Harvard in 1671, serving some time as a 
tutor. By his marriage in February, 1675-6, he acquired a for- 
tune for those days. He was treasurer of the colony in 1676, 
and subsequently one of the Board of Assistants, besides serving 
thirty- three years in the Council. He was long a probate judge 
for Suffolk County. He served on the bench of the Supreme 
Court over forty years, ten years of his tenure being in the 
capacity of Chief Justice. The next notable incident of his 
judicial career was the famons witch trials, his public remorse on 
account of which, together with his remarkable confession of 
penitence in the records, strikingly illuminates the character of 
the man. New P^ngland never had a judge more wise, just, 
pious, and humane. The fame of his charming and picturesque 
diary, that treasure of the antiquarians, is too universal to jus- 
tify recounting. 

Another of the public officials who sleep in the Granary is 
Lieutenant-Governor Cushing. On the marble obelisk erected 
over his tomb in 1846 by a grandson is carved the following in 
scription : 

THOMAS GUSHING, 
Lieut. Gov. of Mass. 
died IDt.h Jan. 1788 ; 
aged 63 years 
He took an active part 
in the 
Revolutionary conflict 
and was several years 
Speaker of 
The House of Representatives 
of Mass. 
until lie became a member 
of the Continental Congress, 
in the year 1774 and 5. 



28 

Cashing was born in Boston in 1725 and graduated from Har- 
vard in 1744. His life was largely spent in public office, the 
earlier part in the Legislature. On returning from service' in the 
Continental Congress, he was elected to the Council, and also 
was ai)pointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas and of Pro- 
bate in Suffolk County. On the adoption of the State constitu- 
tion, he was chosen lieutenant-governor, retaining that office till 
his death. He was a man of ability and learning, as well as of 
a kindly and amiable disposition. 

As is natural, the Granary is studded with names of Boston 
divines. Among the many ministers buried here, one might 
single out Rev. Thomas Prince, the learned historical scholar ; 
Rev. Joseph Eckley, the distinguished pastor of the Old South 
congregation, at the time it retook the Old South Meeting-House 
after its British occupation ; Rev. Jeremy Belknap, the generous 
benefactor of the Massachusetts General Hospital ; Doctors 
Lathrop, Baldwin, the evangelist, and Stillman. 

An interesting ecclesiastic buried in the Granary is Rev. Pierre 
Daille, the pastor of the Huguenots who found refuge in Boston 
in 1687, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He organ- 
ized his little congregation in the town school-house on School 
street, and it was not till 1716, a year after his death, that they 
succeeded in building a small brick church on the same street. 
Though most of the Huguenots migrated from Boston in a few 
years succeeding, many French names can be deciphered on the 
stones in the Granary. The headstone over Daille's grave was 
found in 1860 in the cellar of an old estate on Pleasant street. 
The worthy French parson left instructions '' that there be no 
wine at my funeral, and none of my wife's relations have any 
mourning clothes furnished them except gloves." 

The founder of the "Cradle of Liberty," Peter Faneuil, is a 
noteworthy tenant of the Granary. It was in rather interesting 
fashion that he came to make his historic gift out of the fortune 
newly inherited from his uncle. 

Amid great dissension, three market houses, one of them in 
Dock square, had been built to supplement the old system of 
itinerant peddhng. One night in 1737, the advocates of the old 
Re'gime, "disguised hke clergymen," destroyed the central market 
house mentioned. At a town-meeting in July, 1740, Faneuil 
offered to rebuild and maintain the demolished market house. 

The key of the finished structure was delivered to the select- 
men on Sept. 10, 1742. During the construction, it was sug- 
gested to Faneuil that a town hall miglit readily Ite built over the 
market. He aceeitted the suggestion, although he is said t'o have 
grumbled a little when informed of the additional cost. 

At a meeting held forthwith in the new hall, it was voted that, 
whereas Peter Faneuil " has, at a very great expense, erected a 
nol)le structure, far exceeding his first proposal, inasmuch as it 
contains not only a large and sufficient accommodation for a 
market place, but a spacious and most l)eautiful town hall over 
it, and several other convenient rooms which may prove very 
benelicial to the town for offices or otherwise ; as the said build- 
ing being now linished, he has delivered possession thereof to the 



29 

selectmen for the use of tbe town ; it is therefore voted that the 
town do, with the utmost gratitude, receive and accept this most 
generous and noble benefaction." It was also voted that the 
hall be called Faneuil Hall forever. 

This building of Faneuil's, of which only the \¥alls were left 
standing after the fire of January 13, 1761, was but half the 
width of the present structure, and but two stories high. It 
could contain but one thousand persons. 

John Phillips, the first mayor of Boston, also sleeps in the 
Granar}^ He was born in Boston, Nov. 26, 1770, and graduated 
from Harvard in 1788. His public career before election to the 
new office of mayor comprised many years' service as town 
advocate and public prosecutor, beside twenty years spent in the 
Senate, ten of them as its president. 

He was chosen mayor as a compromise candidate. Josiah 
Qiiincy agreed to run for the office, not knowing that Harrison 
Gray Otis, then the leading local figure in the party, was also a 
candidate. The Democrats seized the opportunity and after 
nominating Thomas L. Winthrop on the night before election, 
• threw enough votes to prevent any candidate getting a majority. 
Otis and Quincy then withdrew, and Phillips, an acceptable third 
choice, was readilj^ elected. He proved an upright official, of 
tact and good judgment, as well as discreet and pliant enough to 
smoothen the transition to the new form of local government. 
Apart from the organization of departments, little of positive 
importance was done during his administration. 

On the refusal of Phillips, because of ill-health, to accept a 
second term, Josiah Quincy said of his predecessor: "It is im- 
possible for me to refrain from expressing the sense I entertain 
-of the services of that high and honorable individual who has 
filled the chair of this city." 

Probably the most remarkable epitaph in the Granary is the 
following : 

ELISHA BROWN 

(of) BOSTON 

Who in Octi- J769, during J7 days 

infpired with 

a generous Zeal for the LAWS, 

bravely & fuccefsfully 

oppofed a whole Britifli Regt. 

in their violent attempt 

to FORCP: him from his 

(legal Habitation) 

Happy Citizen when Call'd fmgley 

to be a Barrier to the Liberties 

[of a Continent) 

The incident narrated in the inscription occurred in the south 
€nd of the town. Brown was ordered to surrender his roomy 
mansion for use as a barracks. On his refusal, he was sur- 
rounded and besieged by the troops. With all the doors and 
windows barred, he held out " bravely and successfully" for the 
seventeen days mentioned, subsisting on the household stores and 
on what provisions his friends could smuggle in from without. 



30 

At length, the British gave up the unpleasant task in disgust. 
Brown died in August, 1785, at the age of sixty-five. 

The following inscription tells a long story of heroism, and 
needs no comment : 

Tomb No. 192 

In Memory of 

COLONEL JOHN ARMSTRONG, 

The Patriot-Hero, and his wife 
MRS. Christian Bass Armstrong, 
and their six children, 
He and his two sons John & Samuel 
marched to Long Island, N.Y. and were 
there engaged in various battles with 
the British Army, August 27, 1776. 
Capt. John Armstrong was Father of 
Governor Samuel Terell Armstrong, 
The Col. was killed on the battle field, 
Maj. Samuel Armstrong had a providen- 
tial escape from the enemy's bullets while re- 
treating, He was wounded, but continuing in 
the army vmtil the Peace of 1783. 
He served as Adjutant and Paymaster in the 
Eighth Regt. Mass. Inf'y. also as Aid-de-Camp 
to Gen. Jackson, He was an 'original member 
of the society of Cincinnati, He married 
Nancy, only daughter of INIaj. Josiah Allen, 
who served \inder Col. Ethan Allen, at the 
conquest of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, 

GEORGE WASHINGTON ARMSTRONG, 

Was born Feb. 22, 1792, He held a commission in 
the war of 1812, as l*.t Lieut, in 10t> Regt. U. S. Inf. 
signed by James Madison Presd't U. S. and 
John Armstrong, Sec. of U. S. War Dept. 
He served in the Boston Light Inf. Co. (Tigers) 
Also as Ass's Engineer on Fort Strong,, an in 
Forts Warren & Indipendence and the Water 
Battery, He was Sec. of the War Office for fitting 
out Privateers and Letters of Marque. 

He was a Franklin Medal Scholar in the class 
with the Hon. Edward Everett, in 1803,-4, 
By him this memorial was inscribed in 1866 

A needless and melancholy tragedy underlies the words of the 
following epitaph : 

HERE Lyes INTERRED 

THE BODY OF MR. 

BENJAMIN WOODBRIDGE, 

SON OF -Lie HONORABLE 

DUDLEY WOODBRIDGE, ESQ'R, 

WHO DEC-D JULY ye 3d 

1728, IN ye 20th 

YEAR OF HIS AGE. 

Young AYoodbridge fell mortally wounded in the first duel 
fought in Boston. He was the son of a Barbadoes merchant and 
on completing his education had been admitted to partnership 



.31 

with Jonathan Sewall, a leading merchant. His opponent was 
Heniy Phillips, twenty-four, freshly graduated from Harvard, 
and successor with his brother, Gillam, to the bookselling business 
of their father, Samuel Phillips. The pair, who had quarrelled 
over cards, fought with small swords in the evening, on a knoll 
of the Common, near where stood an ancient powder-house. 
Woodbridge, who was thrust through the body, died on the spot 
before morning. Phillips, who was slightly wounded, was 
assisted by his brother, Gillam, and by Peter Faneuil, to make his 
escape to the British man-of-war Sheerness, which conveyed him 
to France. "Within a year he died of grief at Eochelle. 

Though the Granary contains more famous personages, yet it 
is not so rich in poetical effusions and striking epitaphs as is 
Copp's Hill. Perhaps the longest and most original piece of 
elegian verse runs as follows : 

TO THE MEMORY OF 
MR WILLIAM WARDEN 
PRINTER 
CtBSIT, March J8t.^ J786 Aged 25 

William thy Mother confecrates this Stone, 
A mark of FriendChip, and of Love fmcere; 
While in her Memory, ever thou will Bloom, 
And in her Heart forever will be dear. 

While private Friends deplore their heavy lofs, 
The Publick at thy Death their grief difplay; 
The ufefull Prefs no longer from thy hand, 
Shall to the liftning World the Tipe convey. 

Yet, while we mourn, permit the briny Tear, 

To wet thy Ashes, mouldering in the Duft; 

Tho fnach'd by cruel Death in early years. 

To Heaven's bleft realms with lolid Hope we truft. 

On the ornate monument southeast of the Franklin tomb, 
erected in memory of Gershom Flagg, were carved the follow- 
ing lines : 

To limits fix'' d our Def lined Course we bend 

And with resistlej's Haste, to Death's i^ale Empire tend; 

Fromfcene tofcene our fhiftincj Moments go ; 

And then return the Ground the Bust we Owe, 

Virtue alone unmoved can hear thf call. 

And face theftroke that makes all Nature fall. 

The early severance of a scholar from his books is told in this 
wise ! 

In memory of 

DANIEL JONES JUN? A.M. 

Who having been early deprived 

of a diftinguished Genius 

By disease of Body 

Made a happv Exit 

Augst 23^ 1779 

In the 29'.V Year of his Age. 



Here penfive Reader make a moment's paufe 
Think how precarious ev'ry human Joy 

See Nature's Hloom (lii"rr)b'd by nature's Cause 
And Death rolealing what it can'' deftroy. 

Thanks bo to (iod that giveth us the Victory 
through our Lord Jefus Chrift. 

An extremely incongruous name is enshrined in the following 
epitaph : 

Here lyes the Body of 

MRS WAITSTILL TROTT, 

the Wife of 

MR THOMAS TROTT; 

She died June ye 8<V 

1744 in the 39t.^ 

Year of Her Age 

On the tombstone of John Downing, who died April 29, 1694, 
aged 53, was inscribed the following fantastic conceit: 

I bargained with Chrift for room below 
He grantf a manfion in his upper ftorie, 
thuf God givef more than we do afK or know 
' inltead of Grace, Uninterrupted glorie. 

The following epitaph speaks for itself : 

To the Memory of 
CAPT. 'WILL'M CLAGUORN, 

of New Bedford, 
Who died in a fit of the Apoplexy. 

On a Vifit to this Town, 
Feb'y Ye 24th, 1798, 
in the 60th Year of his Age. 

Here lies entomb'd, beneath the turfed Clod, 

A Man belov'd, the noblelt work of God; 

With friendly throbs, thine heart shall beat no more, 

Clos'd the gay Scene, the Pomp of Life is o'er. 

A hint of unpleasant experiences to come is conveyed in these 
stanzas on the death of Sarah, the three-year old daughter of 
Capt. Levi Stutson : 

Beneath, an infant sleeping lies, 

To earth her allies lent, 
Hereafter, shall more glorious rife. 

But not more Innocent. 

When tlie archangel's tru'emp shall blow, 

And fouls to Body join, 
What Crouds will wifh their lives Below 

Had been as fliort as thine. 



The memory of Abiah Holbrook, " master of the South Writ- 
ing School," who died at fifty-one in January, 1769, was thus 
preserved : 

Still fpeaks the Inftructor from the folemn Shade, 
Ye living learn the lefsons of the Dead; 
Repine not that thefe dreary Vaults conclude 
A Life of Labours for the Publick Good. 
Calm fleeps the Flefh — Far-diftant, unconfin'd, 
In Joys unbounded wakes the immortal Mind. 

Apart from the patriot orator who opposed the writes of 
assistance, there sleeps another James Otis in the Granary, dead 
in the same year, as told by the following inscription : 

In Memory of 
JAMES OTIS 
Who Died July 7th, 1783, Aged 2 Years and 6 Months. 

A rather ingenuous epitaph is the following : 

In Memory of 

John Wheatley 

An induftrious member of society, 

And a humble chriftian, 

who departed this Life 12th March, 1778. ^t. 72 

Over the two children of Noah and Elisabeth Stoddard, who 
died in 1787 and 1791, each aged fifteen months, were carved 
the following lines : 

In Memory of In Memory of 

SOPHIA STODDARD NOAH STODDARD 

Who Died Sept'r 2Jst, J787, Who died August 27th, J791, 
Aged J5 months. Aged J5 months. 

Children of Noah & Elizabeth Stoddard. 

Here lies two lovely babes, whose early breath 
Was fnatch'd by crewel, not untimely Death; 
Hence did they go, jult as they did begin, 
Sorrow to know, before they knew to Sin. 

Another instance of incongruous name : 

HERE LyES BURIED 

THE BODy OF CAPT 

JOHN UNDERDOWN 

DECd AUGT 3D 173G 

IN yE 34TH YEAR 

OF HIS AGE. 



Some of the other interesting epitaphs follow : 

Sacred to the Memory of 

Mi^s Ann Barbara Bender 

who died Sept'; 12tii 1794 

Aged 48 Years 

WInle loeeping friends bend o''er the filent Tomb* 
Recount her Virtues S: their lofs deplore; 
Faith's piercing eyes dart thro' the dreary gloom 
And hail her bleft^ where tears f hall flow no more, 

H5RE LJES yE BODy OF M 

LyON, BORN IN SUNDERLAND AGED About 
30 yEARS DIED DECEMi". yE 29TH 1725/6 

What is* fond mortal that thou wolds* obtain 
by spining out a painfull life of cares 
thou lives* to act tliy childhood ore again 
and nought, intend 's but grief and seeing years 
Who leaves this world like me Just in my prime 
Speed* all my busnes in a littel time 

[Part of face gone.] 

Here lies interr'd 

the Remains of M^s MARY PEIRCE 

Confort of M" NATH^ PEIRCE 

of this Town Merch* 

she Died of the Small Pox 

July 20t.h 1776 

^i:tatis 21 

Behold this little Pile enfolds my Limbs, 
And puts a Period to my Time below, 
Mortal attend there's no mutation here, 
Ere long you will Participate my Lot 

In Memory of 

Betfey Donnifon, 

daugt.': of M": James & W? 

Catherine Donnifon; 

who died Feb? JS'.i? J789 

Aged 2 Years 

Hail happy babe, fince thou hast taken flight. 
Through Chrift thou dwelft in realms of glorious light; 
Thy ftay was fhort on earth, nor did' ft thou know. 
The pain of parting with thy friends beloio. 

Here Lies 

Buried the Body of M^* 

E L I z A H E T II Rice, Wife 

of Mr E L I A z E K Rice, who 

Died Augft y* 4':i» 1763 in the 

49';h year of her Age. 

The wide Mouth'd Grave Proclaims around, 
Attend y« Mortals, to the Sound ! 
Now is your Time, for Death prepare; 
Work, Wisdom nor Del'igns here. 



35 

Here lies the Body of 
M"" Samuel ]\I 9 C l u e r , 

who died Augst 13, 1759 
in ye 69 Year of His Age 

When in declining Age I ftood 
Death came & have my life he wl<? 
And in ye ftrugle Death gave me A. fall 
Lo here I lye till Chrift doth call 

TE Children Of AndreW & Melicen JSTeal 

ElizabeH N2al ElizabeH N^al ANDreW N5al 

Aged 3 Dayes Aged 2 Weeks Aged 18 MonHS 

DecD 1 666 Dec? June ye 12 Dec? 

As also ye Body Of 1671 [Rest not cut.] 
Hannah M5al Is 
Hire IlSfer'd 

Let US hope that the expectations of the man who lies beneath 
the following epitaph were fully realized. 

Farewell "Vain World I have Enough of the 
and now I'm Careles what thou Say'st of me 
What Faults thou See^t in me Take Care to Shun 
Theres worke within thy Self That Should be Done 
Thy Smiles I Court not nor thy Frowns I fear 
My Cares are past my head lies quiet here 

EDWARD CARTER DIED 
NOV? 11th 1742, AGED 45. 

Here lyes ye Body of John 
Kent, Son of M': John & 

M™ Bathsheba Kent, 

who Died Octobr 31" 1737 

Aged 7 Years & 9 Months 

Read this and Weep — but Not for Mee, 
Lament Thy Longer Mifery, 
My Life Was Short, My Grief ye lefs 
Blame not My Hafte to Happinefs 



At a meeting of the Select men april the 25th, 1729. 
A List of the Toombs in the South Burying place on the South 
Line & Numb red viz^. 

Jonathan Belcher Esqr No. 1 

Oliver Noyes Esqr No. 2 

Capt. James Gouch No. 3 

mT Thomas Gushing No. 4 

Capt. Thomas Steel No. 5 

m^ James Bowdoin No. 6 

m^ William Foy No. 7 



36 

mT George Betliune No. 8 

m! Ezekiel Lewis No. 9 

mV Kobert Guteridge No. 10 

mV William Webster No. 1 1 

Jeramiali Allen Esqr No. 12 

William Harris Esqr No. 13 

Capt. adina Bullinch No. 14 

mT Joshua Hensha-w No. 15 

mT John Gill, now Thomas Hancock No. 1& 

mV David Colson No. 17 

DocV Thomas Creese No. 18 

mT Henery Geneue No. 19 

mT John Coney No. 20 

mT Samuel Barrett No. 21 

m? Jonas Clark No. 22 

m^ Jonathan Jackson No. 23 

m^ William Downs, pinmaker No. 24 

mT Samuel Rand No. 25 

mr Thomas Wallis No. 26 

Capt. Elizar Darby No. 27 

mV Silence Allen No. 28 

mT David Deming No. 29 

Capt. John Bonner No. 30 

va\ William Spikeman No. 31 

mT Henry Gibbons No, 32 

mr Jeramiah Belknap No. 33 

mr William Bowen No. 34 

m\ John Durant No. 35 

Penn Townsend Esqr No. 36 

mV John Borland No. 37 

m? Joseph Brandon No. 38 

mr Barret Dyer No. 39 

m? Nathanii Cunningham No. 40 

mV^ Ann Green No. 41 

niT William Wheeler Junr Capt. W™ Blak No. 42 

Capt. John fairwether No. 48 

mV Thomas Down No. 44 

messr^ John & Thomas Hill No. 45 

Capt. Cyprian Southack No. 46 

John Jekiel Esqr No. 47 

m' James Pemberton No. 48 

mV John Hunt No. 49 

Natlianii Byfield Esqr No. 50 

mr John Dolbeare No. 51 

mr William Young No. 52 

mr fiances Wardwell No. 53 

mr William Lee No. 54 

mr John Wendall No. 55 

major Paul ^Maseareen No. 56 

mr Thomas Jackson No. 57 

mV Andrew Tylor No. 58 

m? francis Gatoom No. 59 

mT Nicholas Buttolph No, 60 

Wl" Welsteed Es(|r. His family No. 61 

DocV Nathan" Williams No. 62 

mr Wm Wheeler JuuV No. 63 

mT William Palphree No. 64 

messurs Zecha & Cornelius Thayer No. 65 

mr Robert Pattishall No. 66 

Capt. James Blin No. 67 

ml Richard Checkley No. 68 

mV Jonathan Williams JunT No. 69 

mr Thomas Hubbard No. 70 

mr Benjamin Emmons No. 71 



37 

mT John Indicott No. 72 

m^ Joshua Blauchard No. 73 

m^ Edward Gray No. 74 

The Hon. John Osborne, Esq^ No. 75 

mV Edmund Quincey No. 76 

mV Thomas Jackson No. 77 

mV Isaac Walker No. 78 

mV John Buttolph No. 79 

mf Joseph Green No. 80 

Deacon Jacob Parker No. 81 

Deacon John Clough No. 82 

Heirs of Saml Greenleaf Deced No. 83 

Capt. Jonathan Armitage No. 84 

Doctor John Gibbins No. 85 



FOLDOUT BLANK 



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